Fantasy Basketball News

The Day Before Tomorrow – Fantasy NBA News and Notes for October 30

Welcome back fans of guys putting an orange ball through an eerily similar shaped rim! The Day Before Tomorrow is back in action this season to give you all the news and notes from around the NBA the day before… well… tomorrow. That’s actually today if you are calendar impaired or just don’t like to think. Let’s dive in…

Yesterday’s News:

-Chris Kaman has been ruled out for the Mavs opening night. Eddy Curry will literally eat up all of his minutes making his first opening night start since his days on the Knicks. Curry isn’t much of a fantasy option considering we haven’t seen him play much the last few years. Those desperate for a center in deeper leagues could do worse though, just remember he’s facing Dwight Howard.

-Manu Ginobili has stayed home from the Spurs trip to New Orleans and he will have his ailing back reevaluated. This locks in Danny Green as one of the better late round picks of the season and makes Stephen Jackson a much more appealing plug and play this week for owners in need of cheap all around production.

-Kirk Hinrich plans to play in the Bulls season opener despite his day-to-day status saying, “As long as I don’t have any setbacks, I plan on playing.” Hinrich won’t provide a ton of scoring punch, but he will be running the Chicago offense most of this season and is a solid value play at point guard as long as he is.

-Washington’s Trevor Booker is another solid pick and play option for the first few weeks as both Nene and Kevin Seraphin can’t get healthy. Booker provided excellent value starting for the Wizards last season, just realize he won’t be a long term solution as the Wiz frontcourt can get very crowded very fast.

-Tony Allen will begin the season as the starting shooting guard for the Grizzlies. This is a huge boon for his fantasy value as he provided solid value last season with OJ Mayo around gobbling up a lot of minutes at his position. Look for Allen to come close to posting career bests in a few categories and he has become one of my favorite late round targets.

-George Hill practiced on Sunday in the Pacers team scrimmage and is expected to start the opener despite his hip injury. This hurts the sleeper potential of backup DJ Augustin, who now returns to a reserve role. If you have deep benches, Augustin’s upside is probably worth stashing as he is a much better creator and playmaker than Hill despite the fact the latter is entrenched as the starter at this point.

-Eric Gordon may come off the bench for the Hornets to start the season according to Monty Williams. This doesn’t affect his value too much as it doesn’t look like a permanent move and is actually good news considering it means he’s not currently injured. Look for Gordon to start a bit slow, but he proved last season that when he’s on the floor, he is a major fantasy asset.

Collison once again has a chance to take over a new team, great matchup with Steve Nash on opening night. Irving should take the step to stardom this season and gets career backup AJ Price night one. Rondo is known for showing up on the big stage, nothing bigger than the Heat in their first game off a championship.

Shooting Guards:

Bradley Beal

OJ Mayo

Dion Waiters

Beal has a solid matchup with fellow rookie Dion Waiters who has looked a step slow so far. Mayo should thrive with increased freedom, especially with Dirk out a few weeks. Waiters is going to see a lot of Jordan Crawford playing what he calls “defense”.

Small Forwards:

Lebron James

Martell Webster

CJ Miles

Lebron James keeps getting better as Paul Pierce continues to get older. Martell Webster should have won the Wizards SF job based on the preseason, I expect that to continue. Miles should thrive as a primary ballhandler/creator in the Cavs second unit. Rookie Jae Crowder is also a guy who could be a big factor for the Mavericks with their injuries, don’t overlook him.

Power Forwards:

Trevor Booker

Elton Brand

Chris Bosh

Booker averaged 9.7 PPG and 7.8 RPG as a starter last season and he’ll be doing just that until Nene gets healthy. Brand is the head of the Mavs frontcourt while Kaman and Dirk are out of commission, the Mavs will ride him. Bosh is a sneaky play against a team that struggled with athletic bigs last season.

Centers:

Dwight Howard

Anderson Varejao

Kevin Garnett

Howard is facing off against Eddy Curry, that’s all I need to say. Varejao is always quietly productive when he plays and the Wizards are exactly imposing. Garnett produced a great season last year and the Heat are thin on bigs after Bosh.